CFP: Workshop on User Centered Design and International Development at CHI 2007

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CALL FOR PARTICIPATION:

User Centered Design and International Development 
A workshop at CHI 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
San Jose, California USA

Much work in international economic and community development 
emphasizes empowering host communities in designing and controlling 
development projects. Many development projects make use of 
information and communication technologies (ICTs) as part of their 
plan. However, there  have been few explicit efforts to bring 
together the international economic and community development, user 
centered design (UCD) and interaction design communities to  find 
ways of designing more appropriate and effective  solutions that 
truly meet local needs. The aim of this workshop is to initiate such 
a dialogue. 

Specifically, we hope to extend the boundaries of the field of Human 
Computer Interaction (HCI) by spurring a discussion on how existing 
UCD practices can be adapted and modified, and how new practices be 
developed, to deal with the unique challenges posed by the context 
of international community and economic development.  We call this 
User Centered Design for Development or UCD4D. 

This workshop will provide a space to exchange experiences, explore 
differences between developed and developing world contexts, to 
develop new partnerships, and to learn from each other about 
problems we have encountered, the solutions that we have proposed 
and ways of working that we have discovered. 

Topics that we hope to cover in the workshop include:
*  experiences of interaction design in developing countries or with 
traditionally underserved populations in developed countries;
*  uses and adaptations of participatory methods in economic and 
community development projects;
*  cultural factors in designing for economic and community 
development;
*  innovative techniques for engaging users in developing world 
contexts;
*  examples of solutions that are sustainable in context.

We also hope to use this workshop to begin to build an international 
community of engaged scholars and thoughtful practitioners who 
understand each other and who can bridge between disciplines and 
boundaries to create appropriate, effective and sustainable 
community development solutions.

Outcomes from the workshop will be reported in the journal 
Information Technology and International Development 
(http://mitpress.mit.edu/ITID). In addition, based upon submissions 
and the review process we expect to publish a special issue of the 
journal on the workshop themes.

For more information on the workshop, please see:
http://www-static.cc.gatech.edu/~mikeb/UCDandIDWorkshop/

For more on the CHI2007 conference, please see:
http://www.chi2007.org/welcome/

This workshop will be open to anyone with relevant experience or 
interest in UCD4D and/or ICTs in international economic and 
community development.
To participate, please submit a 2 page position paper describing 
your experience, findings or interests relevant to the themes of the 
workshop. Participants will be chosen to represent a good cross 
section of communities and key themes.

Papers can be submitted by email to Andy Dearden at 
[email protected]
Accepted papers will be posted on the workshop website.

Important dates:
January 12th 2007: Submission deadline
February 1st 2007: Notification of acceptance
April 28th 2007: Workshop

Please note:  As with all CHI workshops, at least one author of 
accepted papers needs to register for the Workshop and for one day 
of the conference itself.

Organizers:
Andy Dearden - Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Michael Best - Georgia Tech, USA
Susan Dray - Dray & Associates, Inc., USA
Ann Light - Queen Mary University, UK.
John Thomas - IBM, USA
Celeste Buckhalter - Georgia Tech, USA
Daniel Greenblatt - Georgia Tech, USA
Shanks Krishnan - Georgia Tech, USA
Nithya Sambasivan - Georgia Tech, USA